Before we buy a new camera we agonise about the various features and sensor noise is usually a big concern, especially at high ISO settings. For landscape or studio work, however, it is usually possible to use a low ISO and so the purpose of this post is to show what the 40D is capable of, particularly with landscapes. Right at the outset I'll admit to being a "happy snapper" so don't be too hard on my artistic shortcomings please, although I am happy to receive constructive suggestions. If you feel compelled it is probably best to do this via PM as this post is about the camera rather than the camera operator!

Unless otherwise noted all pictures were taken at ISO 100 using the camera's "pattern" metering and with autofocus and image stabilisation on. The lens used was either an EF 24-105 mm f/4L IS USM or an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM. The pictures you see are highly compressed JPEGs but all are "clickable" so that the full resolution JPEG may be viewed (saved from the original using Photoshop with quality level 10, usually around a 2 to 3MB download). Each picture retains the EXIF data if you need more. All pictures are from "Large Fine" JPEGs direct from the camera and start with Daylight white balance and "Landscape" style with just one extra notch of sharpening in camera over and above the shipping default. That said, over half of the pictures have subsequently been processed for levels, colour balance, contrast etc. using Photoshop CS2. Parameters that have not been processed are sensor/picture noise and sharpness. A précis of the Photoshop manipulations, if done, is included with each picture.

Obviously the 40D will be called on for many duties other than landscapes but I hope this selection will at least give a feel for how well the camera performs in day to day situations when we aren't trying to review it to death! You might guess that I am delighted with the general IQ.

Hi Bob, you've got some lovely photos there - I love the UK Lake District and even though I have a great big lake right in front of me here surrounded by lovely mountains, I do miss that area!

As you know, I personally felt the 40D's default settings benefitted from an extra notch in sharpness, so I was interested to see you were doing the same. Having used the camera for a while now, do you think this is a sweetspot for the 40D?

PS - spot the camera - is it a Sony W200? There's not many compacts with a viewfinder these days...

...As you know, I personally felt the 40D's default settings benefitted from an extra notch in sharpness, so I was interested to see you were doing the same. Having used the camera for a while now, do you think this is a sweetspot for the 40D?

PS - spot the camera - is it a Sony W200? There's not many compacts with a viewfinder these days...

Following your review I added that extra notch of sharpening and haven't felt the need to experiment further. It works for me.

I never got to see the camera in question. Pixel peeping reveals Kanji labels but I can't make out a maker's name. All sorts of technical defects with the picture and the AF obviously locked on to the sleeve. I included it because it is the only photo I took with a significant area of flesh tone. Also the composition appeals to my warped sense of humour with the disembodied hand appearing from the left. I thought I would deflect adverse comment by including a "competition" element - sorry, no prizes!

a failed attempt at getting a picture of the girl in the black sweater.hah.

Sort of.

The two girls were having a whale of a time taking pictures and I wanted to try and capture a sense of the fun. Trouble was I was sitting in full view less than 10 metres away and the last thing I wanted to do was spoil their day. For me (personal taste) the real picture that is "in the picture" is this

but as it's only a small portion of the original frame it isn't printable at any decent size. Framed in this way the girl's face being slightly soft adds depth while the main interest is in the interplay of the hands. If I had this picture at anywhere near full frame I would also want to spend some time airbrushing that sticking plaster away!

However, as with the other pictures in the original post, I am really pleased with the IQ (no processing on this one) and that is what I am trying to highlight.

It's another view of Grasmere but this time given the HDR treatment. The 40D was set up to fire off three shots in quick succession (6.5fps) when the shutter release was pressed with the second and third shots giving ±1 ev.

Hi Camera Guy, I personally peferred adding an extra notch to the default style as I think it benefitted all images, but it's all personal taste... and of course whether you prefer to do your sharpening using superior tools on your computer instead...

I used my 40D at ISO 3200 for the first time last night while taking some photos of the Orion Nebula. How the full shot is obtained is described in this post but I thought it might be useful to show an ISO 3200 image in this thread as well.

This is a 100% crop (clickable if you want to see the original). It will be no surprise that this image has been heavily processed. In fact it is actually three separate images which have been combined in software but, if you want to spend the time doing the subsequent processing, I imagine it is perfectly feasible to take an automatic AEB sequence with a very small ev spread when doing more conventional photography. Not something I've ever tried, though. In addition to the stacking technique the final image was Photoshopped with some effort being put into combinations of noise reduction and sharpening.

I chose to retain a degree of background noise (the red mottling) in order to show the most nebulosity. The clipping of the brightest parts of the nebula is a consequence of the extreme dynamic range of astronomical subjects. Might be fun to try an HDR sequence one day.

OK, it's not conventional subject matter but I hope that it shows that, with some effort, the 40D is quite a capable machine even at ISO 3200.

I would sure like to upgrade to the 40D, but it's not in the stars for me right now (pun intended). I have a lot of respect for all you astrophotograhers out there. That photo of Orion is very cool indeed. Even though astrophotography pushes the limits of dynamic range it looks like the 40D coped with it quite well. What was the TV and AV of each image?